A Tennessee judge reportedly said Friday that those behind a lawsuit claiming the Nashville Choose How You Move transit referendum illegally uses money raised under the 2017 IMPROVE Act for items unrelated to transit will not be able to challenge the spending in court, stating that such objections should have been brought to Mayor Freddie O’Connell and public officials during the city’s public comment period.
O’Connell, the Metro Nashville government, and Davidson County Election Commission were sued in November by Emily Evans and her organization, the Committee to Stop an UnFair Tax, who argued in their lawsuit that O’Connell’s referendum was illegal, noting the 2017 IMPROVE Act used under the referendum specifies that cities may levy additional taxes specifically to pay for transit improvements.
Tennessee Chancellor Anne Martin said during a Friday court hearing that plaintiffs’ discovery will be limited to whether Nashville complied with the requirements to bring a referendum under the 2017 legislation, according to The Tennessean, which reported the judge stated discovery will have “a very limited scope.”
She reportedly said on Friday, “the court does not think it matters what anybody’s intentions were or feelings were about it. It is what it is, and the question is whether Metro did what it’s supposed to do in getting it on the ballot.”
The outlet further reported, “But what the upcoming trial shouldn’t be about, Martin said, is that claim or any questions on what should or shouldn’t have been included in the plan — questions she said should have been asked during the plan’s public comment period.”
The court hearing was reportedly called after Evans and the Committee to Stop an UnFair tax sought the court’s blessing to determine whether city officials ignored the text of the 2017 IMPROVE Act when preparing the referendum to go before voters in November.
While Martin reportedly said questions about whether the referendum could legally include items like new traffic signals and expanded sidewalks should have been answered prior to the vote, Nashville Tea Party founder Ben Cunningham, who is associated with the Committee to Stop an UnFair Tax, has warned about legal concerns since at least April.
“This was a provision put in the IMPROVE Act to allow cities to create a mass transit system. And it was very clear…they said we’re going to give the cities, the four largest cities, the opportunity to increase taxes through a voter referendum for a mass transit system. That was specifically what it was targeted for,” said Cunningham in April. “It was not for all the other stuff that [O’Connell’s] doing.”
In July, Cunningham suggested the legally dubious additions to the referendum were designed to garner public support.
“Our current mayor, Freddie O’Connell, knew he didn’t want to repeat the [transit] boondoggle of 2018,” said Cunningham, referring to the failure of a 2018 transit referendum. “So he started adding elements to the transit plan like adding ornaments on a Christmas tree so he could get votes.”
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Judge Anne Martin” by Judge Anne Martin.
What else would you expect from such a terrible judge.
Ridiculous, people were complaining about this long ago.
You could not pay me to live in Nashville. Taxpayers that currently live there that do not wish to live under tyranny need to move out and deny them your hard earned money.